MS Student, Biology

Texas Tech University. The Ray Laboratory.

Lubbock, USA

Present - 2021

• Thesis: A Comparative Genomics Approach to Unravel the Evolutionary Dynamics of Transposable Elements and Innate Immune Genes in Chiroptera
• Graduation date: Summer 2023

BS Genetics

Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva,
Universidad Nacional de Misiones

Posadas, Argentina

2020

• Thesis: Cytogenetic and molecular studies in some species of the Genus Myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Myotinae) in Northern Argentina.

Collaborator

The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Present - 2021

• RAPID: Immunological adaptations in bats to moderate the effect of coronavirus infection.
• RoL: FELS: EAGER: Collaborative Research: Genomics of exceptions to scaling of longevity to body size.

Associated Researcher

INABIO

Quito, Ecuador

Present - 2020

• Employed novel bioinformatic methods to understand how mammals make use of their natural habitat and what resources impact on how they move across their home ranges.

Research Assistant

Andean Bear Foundation

Quito, Ecuador

Present - 2015

• As part of the Large Mammals Project in Parque Nacional Cayambe Coca, I assisted in ecotourism projects and tracking of mammals.
• Our Foundation works with INABIO on several projects related to home range estimation of mammals habitats and behavior patterns using GPS data.

Regional Chair

Bat1K

N/A

Present - 2023

• As a newly appointed Regional Chair for Ecuador I intend to bridge connections between one of the most important worldwide bat consortia and institutions in my home country that have not collaborated with genome sequencing initiatives due to lack of funding.
• My efforts will expand the consortium’s reach and impact in one of the most underrepresented regions with regard to genome-related projects.

Thesis Evaluating Committee

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas

Bogotá, Colombia

2021

• Undergraduate Thesis: “Biological knowledge status of the subfamily Stenodermatinae (Gervais, 1856): a cytogenetic revision within an evolutionary framework”

Field Assistant

Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva, Universidad Nacional de Misiones

Posadas, Argentina

2018 - 2015

• I was part of collection campaigns with the goal of obtaining biological samples from bats for several genetic and ecological projects.

A cytogenetic and genomic approach to unravel phylogenetic discrepancies in a bat genus

Integrative Biology Department, University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, USA

December 2022

Karyological analyses as a tool for clinical diagnosis of human hereditary diseases

Hospital Carlos Andrade Marin, Genetics and Molecular Unit

Quito, Ecuador

February 2020

Herpetology data base enhancement project

Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva, Universidad Nacional de Misiones

Posadas, Argentina

2019 - 2018

BIOL 1403 (BIOL I)

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Fall 2021 & 2022

• Laboratory Teaching Assistant.
• Lab course designed to develop scientific skills in Biology Major students.
• Guided students to perform microscopy, spectrophotometry, and fermentation experiments.

BIOL 1404 (BIOL II)

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Spring 2022 & 2023

• Laboratory Teaching Assistant.
• Lab continuation for BIOL1403 for Biology Major students.
• Dissection labs are performed besides an independent investigation project in which students present a scientific article draft as a final project.

BIOL 3416 (Genetics)

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Summer 2022

• Laboratory Teaching Assistant.
• Topics covered include Mendelian genetics, fly crosses to replicate Thomas Morgan’s experiments, and Chi-square as a means to understand statistical significance of expected and observed breeding results.

Genomes and Genomes Evolution

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Fall 2022

• Invited Teaching Assistant
• Guided graduate students through exercises performed through the Unix command line to analyze genome assemblies via several tools.

Introduction to Telemetry and Ecology of Large Mammals

Andean Bear Foundation

Online

Spring 2021

• Basic level introduction to R language, basic statistics and data visualization.
• Intermediate-level students were introduced to home range estimation methods using the adehabitat package.
• Advanced students learned to visualize animal movement with the movevis package and to estimate home ranges using the Convex Hull method with T-LoCoH.

Biology Teacher Scholar Program

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

Fall 2022

• Completed a comprehensive teaching professional development program
• Participated in intensive, 2-day bootcamp on topics including: active learning, growth mindset, and lesson planning
• Participated in monthly mentoring sessions
• Completed a peer teaching observation and reflection

The search behavior of terrestrial mammals (Submitted)

Michael J. Noonan, Ricardo Martinez-Garcia, Christen H. Fleming, … Castellanos, F. X. .. , William F. Fagan, and Justin M. Calabrese.(2023). The search behavior of terrestrial mammals. Submitted to Nature Ecology and Evolution. [Preprint]: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.31.521874v1

N/A

2023

deAMPlifying the immune response? Antimicrobial peptide evolution in Chiroptera (In preparation)

Castellanos, F. X., Moreno-Santillan, D. Graham, H., Johnson, M., Paulat, N., Corthals, A., Davalos, L. and Ray, D. deAMPlifying the immune response? Antimicrobial peptide evolution in Chiroptera. To be submitted to Frontiers in Immunology

N/A

2023

A SINEphony of Bat Evolution: SINES as tools to reconstruct homoplasy-free phylogenies (In preparation)

Castellanos, F. X., Paulat, N., and Ray, D. A SINEphony of Bat Evolution: SINES as tools to reconstruct homoplasy-free phylogenies. To be submitted to Genes.

N/A

2023

New species of spiny mouse of the genus Neacomys (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae), from the northwestern Ecuador (In preparation)

Tinoco, N., Koch, C., Colmenares J., Castellanos, F. X.,and Brito, J. New species of spiny mouse of the genus Neacomys (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae), from the northwestern Ecuador. To be submitted to ZooKeys

N/A

2023

How relevant are cytogenetics studies in Myotis? New evidence on chromosomal data reveals differential heterochromatic patterns in Argentinian myotine bats (In preparation)

Castellanos, F. X., Ferro, J.M., Baldo, D. and Sanchez, M. How relevant are cytogenetics studies in Myotis? New evidence on chromosomal data reveals differential heterochromatic patterns in Argentinian myotine bats. To be submitted to Acta Chiropterologica.

N/A

2023

Home range and utilization of landscape of the Andean bear Tremarctos ornatus in the Ecuadorian Andes (In preparation)

Castellanos, F. X., Jackson, D., Kays, R., Van Gestel, N., Brito, J. and Castellanos, A. Home range and utilization of landscape of the Andean bear Tremarctos ornatus in the Ecuadorian Andes. To be submitted to PLOS Biology.

N/A

2023

A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador

Castellanos, A., Castellanos, F. X., Kays, R. and Brito, J. (2021). A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador. Mammalia 86(1), 22-26. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0195

N/A

2021

Tapirus pinchaque in Western Ecuador

Castellanos, A., Brito, J. and Castellanos, F. X.. (2021). Tapirus pinchaque in Western Ecuador. Museum of Zoologic Research IASA, Technical Bulletin, Zoologic Series 16:1-4. Online access:
https://journal.espe.edu.ec/ojs/index.php/revista-serie-zoologica/article/view/1629

N/A

2020

First report of Canine distemper in the Andean Fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) in Ecuador

Castellanos, A., Brito, J. and Castellanos, F. X.. (2022). First report of Canine distemper in the Andean Fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) in Ecuador. Museum of Zoologic Research IASA, Technical Bulletin, Zoologic Series 16:1-4. Online access:
https://journal.espe.edu.ec/ojs/index.php/revista-serie-zoologica/article/view/1628

N/A

2020

Glyphonycteris, O. Thomas, 1896 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Glyphonycterinae), a new genus of bats for Argentina, with commentary on its karyotype

Sánchez, M.S., Labaroni C.A., Castellanos, F. X. and Baldo, D.J. Glyphonycteris, O. Thomas, 1896 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Glyphonycterinae), a new genus of bats for Argentina, with commentary on its karyotype. Mastozoología Neotropical, 26(2):420-429.
https://doi.org/10.31687/saremMN.19.26.2.0.12

N/A

2019

Panthera onca

Castellanos, A., Castellanos, F. X., and Vallejo, A.F. 2019. Panthera onca In: Brito, J., Camacho, M. A., Romero, V. Vallejo, A. F. (eds). Mamíferos del Ecuador. Version 2018.0. Zoology Museum, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Online access:
https://bioweb.bio/faunaweb/mammaliaweb/FichaEspecie/Panthera%20onca

N/A

2019

Artibeus lituratus

Sánchez, Mariano S., Castellanos, F. X., Sandoval, María Leonor (2019). Artibeus lituratus. (2019). Categorization of mammals in Argentina according to their risk of extinction. Argentine mammal’s Red List. Digital version: https://cma.sarem.org.ar/es/especie-nativa/artibeus-lituratus

N/A

2019

Carollia perspicillata

Castellanos, F. X., Sánchez, Mariano S., Sandoval, María Leonor (2019). Carollia perspicillata. (2019). Categorization of mammals in Argentina according to their risk of extinction. Argentine mammal’s Red List. Digital version: https://cma.sarem.org.ar/es/especie-nativa/carollia-perspicillata

N/A

2019

deAMPlifying the Immune Response? Antimicrobial Peptides Evolution in Chiroptera

Oral presentation:. 11^th Texas Tech Annual Biologial Sciences Symposium. Best Oral Presentation. Lubbock TX, USA.

N/A

April 2023

deAMPlifying the Immune Response: Antimicrobial Peptides Evolution in Chiroptera

Poster presentation:. 19^th IBCR - 50^th NASBR. [Abstract PDF]. Austin TX, USA.

N/A

August 2022

De lo bàsico a lo complejo: ¿Qué causa el Síndrome de Prader WIlli?

Invited speaker: From the basics to the complex: What causes Prader-Willi Syndrome?
Fundación Prader-Willi Ecuador. Online.

N/A

April 2021

Chromosomal studies in some species of the genus Myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Northern Argentina.

Poster presentation:. XXXI Argentine Conference of Mastozoology.
[Abstract PDF]. La Rioja, Argentina.

N/A

October 2018

General Fellowships for New and Continuing Graduate Students

The Ray Laboratory, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

2022

Study Abroad Competitive Scholarship

The Ray Laboratory, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

2022

TTU Biology Teacher-Scholars Program

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Lubbock, USA

2022

Science and Technology Scholarship

Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva, Universidad Nacional de Misiones

Posadas, Argentina

2019